Pfizer, Moderna shares fall on Trump child Covid shot report

Shares of Pfizer and Moderna fell on Friday after a report that Trump administration health officials plan to link Covid vaccines to the deaths of 25 children. 

The report from the Washington Post said officials plan to incorporate the claim in a presentation next week to a key vaccine panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.That committee plays a critical role in determining vaccine access, because it reviews immunization data and makes recommendations on who’s eligible for shots and whether insurers should cover them, amongst other duties.

However the presentation to that panel just isn’t final, the Post reported.

“FDA and CDC staff routinely analyze VAERS and other safety monitoring data, and people reviews are being shared publicly through the established ACIP process,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said in a press release, referring to the panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

“Until that’s shared publicly, any this must be considered pure speculation,” the spokesperson added.

Pfizer’s stock fell greater than 3% on Friday, while shares of Moderna dropped greater than 7%. Novavax, which creates protein-based Covid shots, slid greater than 4%.

The report comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves to vary vaccine policy within the U.S. He has dropped Covid shot recommendations for healthy kids and pregnant women and set latest limits on the approval of recent jabs against the virus.

In a press release, Moderna said the security of its vaccine is “rigorously monitored” by the corporate, the FDA and regulators in greater than 90 countries. Systems across the U.S., Australia, Canada and Europe haven’t identified “any latest or undisclosed safety concerns in children or in pregnant women,” Moderna added.

Pfizer didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Quite a few studies have demonstrated that shots using mRNA technology, including Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, are protected and effective, and serious unintended effects have happened in extremely rare cases.

Researchers have noted an elevated but rare risk of myocarditis, or inflamed heart muscle, in young men particularly. But there may be no evidence that the vaccines in use now cause another major safety risks, including pediatric deaths. Global surveillance data also proceed to generally show that the advantages of Covid vaccination outweigh the risks in pediatric populations.

The Washington Post said the claim appears to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Opposed Event Reporting System, which monitors the security of shots approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. The system incorporates unverified reports of unintended effects, including from patients, doctors and pharmacists.

Only scientists and public health officials can determine, after thorough investigation, whether a vaccine caused or contributed to a side effect submitted to the system, in response to the CDC website.

Last week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary told CNN the agency is conducting an “intense investigation” into whether Covid shots have caused deaths in children. He didn’t share specific data linking pediatric deaths to the vaccine, but pointed to self-reported incidents in the security system database. 

The FDA plans to release a report in the approaching weeks, Makary added.

“We do know on the FDA, because we have been looking into the [vaccine safety] database of self reports, that there have been children who’ve died from the Covid vaccine,” Makary told CNN.

During a Senate hearing last week, Kennedy said he supports a press release made by a newly appointed member of a key government vaccine panel that mRNA vaccines pose a dangerous risk to people.